


Complex

by marsbarsandcookiejars



Series: Pathway [1]
Category: Veronica Mars (TV), Veronica Mars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, orphan veronica
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-07
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-10-11 19:14:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20551301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marsbarsandcookiejars/pseuds/marsbarsandcookiejars
Summary: Orphan Veronica AU - LoVe - Veronica CenteredDead dad, dead-beat mom; life in Neptune is a prison and Veronica is one foster family away from escaping. That is, until her pesky savior complex convinces her the people of Neptune need her.. well at least two of them do. So, Veronica decided to stay with her new foster family, the Navarro's, and if that means she has to join Mrs. Navarro at her housekeeping job to help keep food on the table, so be it. She's going to do what she has to for her new familia, and it has nothing to do with the endearing Logan Echolls, who has entirely too many unexplained bruises and sprains.This is a LoVe story, but it's more of a friendship story. They're only 13 so it's less of a relationship and more of them just having a crush on each other. This is the first part of a series tho so as the series progresses, it will get more and more romantic. Make no mistake, I am a huge pushover for happy LoVe endings, so anything I write that's VM will always have one. Most characters aren't mentioned, fab4 doesnt happen, lily/logan doesnt ever happen, duncan/veronica doesnt ever happen, essentially completely non complaint with cannon.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> AN: this story is completely unbeta'd and im not even sure if it's any good but here goes nothing right?

###  Prologue

Neptune, California

August 15, 2000

“Happy Birthday, Veronica!” Veronica giggled as her dad burst into her room holding a plate of pancakes and bacon in one hand and a small rectangular velvet box in the other. He set the pancakes on her desk and came over to the bed. “Okay honey, you’re 13 years old today, officially a teenager. That means you’re ready for your first piece of adult jewelry.” He opened the box and inside was a small teardrop stone hanging off a thin pale chain. Veronica reached her hand out, but stopped. It was so delicate, she was scared if she touched it it would crumble. Her dad chuckled at her, but motioned for her to turn around so he could put it on her. “It’s a 14K white gold chain with a single carat pear diamond in a prong setting,” He said as finished fastening the clasp, “in other words, it’s mature and petite. Just like my favorite girl” He pressed a kiss to her temple and walked back over to her desk to grab her breakfast. “Now eat up, we have a big day ahead of us!” 

~

Veronica was having the best day of her life. Between manicotti at Mama Leones, buttery popcorn with  _ Coyote Ugly _ on the big screen, and pink cotton candy at the top of the Neptune Pier ferris wheel, she didn’t think anything could go wrong tonight. Even when her dad got called in to take over patrol for Deputy Walker, she wasn’t that upset. 

“Now, he only has an hour left on his shift, so as soon as shift change is over we’re going to the arcade for some skeeball and free throws. You’re gonna stay at the station until then okay?” 

“Why do you have to go though? Why can’t someone else take over his shift?” She already knew why. Her daddy was the sheriff and he was determined to be a great sheriff. So if that meant coming in to finish a shift so his deputies wouldn’t be put out, that’s exactly what was going to happen.

“Baby, a good leader works beside their men. One day when you’re running the country, you’ll understand.” Keith Mars had complete faith that his daughter already understood that. That’s why she wasn’t ignoring him or giving him a huge attitude like some kids would. Sure she was giving him that pout that almost always worked, but they both knew her heart wasn’t into it. As they pulled up to the station, he reached into the back seat and pulled out one last birthday present for his daughter. “Here, these are to keep you busy while you wait for me.” Veronica excitedly tore through the gift wrap and gasped.

“Really?! The Stephanie Plum books? I thought you didn’t want me reading things with lewd behavior and profanity”

“I’ll admit, I’m still a bit apprehensive about this, but I know you’re mature enough to handle them. I also know you’ve been sneaking books worse than these from the library afterschool.” Veronica blushed and looked down, but when Keith laughed and put his hand on her shoulder, she whipped her head up to beam at him. 

“Thank you so much, Daddy! I can’t wait to read them!” She leaned over and gave him a big kiss. Keith chuckled at her and motioned for them to get out of the car. Once they were inside, Veronica rushed over to the debriefing room to start reading. She and her dad said goodbye to each other and as he was walking out of the station he turned to look at her through the office window. She had pushed two of the chairs together and was sprawled across them. She looked up at him, smiling, and blew him a kiss. He waved back, and as he made his way through the door, he thought about how lucky he was to have such a great kid. 

~

Veronica didn’t understand what was going on. Everyone was rushing around her and she could only hear tidbits of what they were saying. 

“-armed robbery at the Sac-n-Pac-”

“-gunshots heard-”

“-called for backup, no response-”

“-Walker’s assignment-”

“-officer DOA-”

“-but Walker is at home-”

“-the sheriff-”

The sheriff. They were talking about her dad, but that could mean anything right? She got up and walked over to the front desk and Inga was crying. 

“Inga, what’s going on?…. Igna? Igna!!” Igna turned and looked at her. She didn’t say anything, just walked over and pulled her into a tight hug. It was awkward and uncomfortable, Igna’s skinny arms and chin jutting into her skin. 

“Veronica,” She pulled away and looked at me in the eye, “something has happened to your father.” 

“What happened??? We need to get to the hospital. Who’s taking me? I need to gra-”

“No sweetie, he…. He was…” Veronica couldn’t hear what she was saying. All she could hear was her heart pounding and people rushing around the station. She knew what Igna was saying though. She didn’t need to hear to see what was written plainly across her face. Her father was dead.


	2. Chapter 1

###  Chapter 1

December 19, 2000

When Veronica got out of class that day and saw Cliff waiting for her outside her classroom, she gave a big sigh. Her foster family had given her up. Again. Well, at least she had been expecting it this time. She hadn’t gotten home last night until 3 am.    
The last four months had flew by in a blur. She had been staying with her father’s lawyer, Cliff, until they could try to track down her mother. A week after her father’s funeral, Cliff got the paperwork in the mail. Lianne had given up her parental rights and with no living relatives, Veronica became a ward of the state. Neptune, California has five foster families and by December, Veronica had worked her way to the last one.

She shrugged her book bag onto her shoulder and followed Cliff to his car. As soon as he closed his door, he started his speech. She pulled out a book and pretended to read as Cliff lectured her on their way to the ‘02 district of Neptune. 

“Veronica, Mrs. Navarro is your last chance before San Diego. Your father made it clear in his will that he wanted you to stay in Neptune. You have to stop running away. Mrs. Navarro is a nice woman, but the only reason she became a foster parent was to legally take in her grandchildren. I don’t imagine she’ll have much patience for your shenanigans.” Veronica didn’t care, she wanted to get out of Neptune. Everything here reminded her of her dad. Even if she stayed in the house all day, the bags from the grocery store, the boxes from takeout, the anchor on the news… everything made her think of her dad. She needed to get out. She need a city with different stores and restaurants. A city where nobody knew anyone, instead of one where everybody knew everyone. 

Cliff kept talking and as soon as he put the car in park in front of the Navarro house, she jumped out and went around to the trunk to grab her bags. She heard Cliff give a big sigh before he came around to open the trunk and grabbed her bags himself. She liked him, she really did, but she couldn’t stand to listen to him anymore. Nevertheless, as the walked up to the Navarro house, she reached out to grab his hand. Despite herself, she was nervous and Cliff was the only thing that made her feel grounded lately. 

When the door opened, behind it stood a boy around Veronica’s age with a mean look on his face. He didn’t say anything, just stood there staring Veronica down like she killed his cat. 

“Um, hello young man, you must be one of Lettie’s grandsons. Would you mind getting her for us.” Cliff said awkwardly. The boy just continued to stare.

“Eli! Who’s there? I’m expecting someone from- Oh! Hello, Cliff. I was under the impression that someone from the state would be bringing Veronica.” The woman speaking was short and round. She turned to Veronica and gave her a big smile. “Hi Veronica, my name is Letica Navarro. You can call me Mrs. Navarro or Abeula, like the other kids do. Why don’t you head to the backyard with Eli while I talk to Cliff.” Veronica nodded and walked in the house to follow Eli outside. Once they were out of earshot of the grownups, Eli stopped and turned to face her.

“First of all,  _ chica,  _ you can call her Mrs. Navarro. She ain’t your grandma, she’s mine. Second, call me Weevil, not Eli. I already know you ain’t gonna be here long. Just like all the other poor little rich white kids, this is your last stop before your next city. So don’t waste your time, whatever bullshit you’re gonna pull go ahead and get it over with.” Veronica rolled her eyes. Eli - sorry  _ Weevil  _ \- wasn’t the least bit intimidating. She had a good three inches on him and he was skinnier than a blade of grass. 

“Whatever, can we go to the backyard now? I’m bored.” He gave her another hard look and she rolled her eyes again. When they reached the backyard, everyone stopped playing and looked at Weevil. He just nodded at them and everything went back to normal. There weren’t a lot of kids there, maybe five or six. There was only one that looked older though. She was obviously at least 16, maybe older. Veronica walked over to her and held out her hand. “I’m Veronica,” she said, “I’m gonna be staying here for a while, I guess.” The older girl reached out and shook her hand. 

“I’m Alma. I see you met Weevil, that’s my little brother. We have a little sister, Leilani. There’s also Chardo and Valentina, our cousins. The other two boys are Hector and Felix. They’re just friends, they don’t live with us.” She pointed to everyone as she said their names. “You’ll be sharing a room with me. It’s already set up for you and everything. The girls share a room with Abeula and the boys have their own room.” She smiled at Veronica and started making light chitchat. Veronica started to feel a little more at ease. Alma had a pleasant voice and it was easy to listen to without actually hearing what she was saying. 

When she saw Cliff coming out the backdoor, she excused herself to go talk to him. She walked up to him and he gave her a little smile. 

“I’ve got to get going kid. I’ll call you tonight to see how you’re doing.” In other words, I’ll call you tonight to make sure you haven’t run away yet. She nodded at him and pulled a tight smile. He did another one of his big sighs and put his hand on her shoulder. Suddenly, Veronica just jumped forward and gave him a hug. This was the routine. Veronica pretended she was thick skinned and indifferent to her situation. Then they were outside a new front door and she was holding his hand. He was leaving her with a new family and she was pulling him into a tight hug. Veronica wasn’t indifferent, she was scared. She was nervous and Cliff was there for her to lean on. After exactly three seconds she was back to standing straightforward in front of him. 

“Bye Cliff, talk to you later.” She said in her smallest voice. 

“See you later, kid.” And with that, he was gone. 

~

When Veronica ran away from the Navarro’s the first time, it was to go to Neptune Pier. She was surprised when it was Alma that came and got her instead of a deputy. Alma didn’t take her home right away, she just sat there with her. After half an hour, she said it was getting late and they should head home. Veronica just nodded and went with her. When they got home, Mrs. Navarro wasn’t standing at the door waiting to yell at her. She wasn’t pacing back and forth worried out of her mind. She was sitting at the kitchen table going through bills. When they walked it, she looked up and smiled at them. 

“ _ Mija _ , your dinner is in the oven.  _ Ven, ven _ , I’ll warm it up for you.” Alma gave her a little push towards the table and smiled at her before going up to their room. 

“I’m sor-“

“No,  _ mija _ , you’re not. And that’s okay… Alma read your journal to try to figure out where you were. We know about your birthday. It’s okay, really.” Mrs. Navarro set the food in front of her and smiled. “You can go to bed after you eat, okay?” Then she sat back down and continued to go through the bills. 

~

The next time she ran away, it was Weevil who found her. She was sitting outside her old house. When he found her, he just looked at her until she stood up and followed him. 

“Abeula says we’re going to work with her tomorrow. Alma and the girls starts school tomorrow, we don’t go back ‘til Wednesday.” She nodded and they kept walking. “Chardo isn’t comin’ though, his mom is vistin’...” Which meant Chardo was coming back pumped full of sugar and processed food and would be hangry all night. She sighed and they kept walking. “Listen, V… I know you’re going through a lot right now, but you gotta behave tomorrow. The family Abeula works for… well the old man has a temper, okay? He won’t show it when we’re around, but he’ll take it out on Abuela once we’re back in school.” She nodded and when they made it back to the house, Mrs. Navarro was sorting through bills again. Weevil nodded at her and went upstairs. Again Mrs. Navarro fed her, then sent her off to bed. 

While laying in bed, Veronica decided she wasn’t going to run away again. It was pretty clear they weren’t gonna call the sheriff department to find her, so she needed to find another way out. 


	3. Chapter 2

###  Chapter 2 

Veronica was about to walk in from the back door of the fancy house when she heard Mrs. Navarro’s big voice. 

“Good morning, Mrs. Echolls, what can I get you for breakfast?” 

“Oh, just a mimosa, Lettie… and please make sure Logan eats before the Casablancas boys get here. Last time, he forgot and had a terrible heada- oh! Hello sweetie.” Crap. Veronica was hoping if she moved slowly enough Mrs. Echolls wouldn’t see her. They were allowed to be there, but Mr. Echolls preferred they stay out of sight. Veronica waved at her from outside, but Mrs. Echolls motioned for her to come inside. 

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Echolls, I was just coming in to get some water I didn’t mean to disturb your breakfast.” 

“Non-sense, Veronica dear, come on in. Where’s Eli? I’d love for you guys to join me for breakfast.”

“It’s okay, Mrs. Echolls, I fed them before we came. Besides, Mr. Echolls will be up soon and you know he likes his quiet.” Mrs. Navarro’s voice was sweet and nonchalant, but the look she was throwing at Veronica was anything but. 

“Oh well, okay then. Have fun outside Veronica.” Mrs. Echolls shrugged with a smile, not seeming to notice the pointed look Veronica was getting. Veronica nodded and walked back outside.

“Mom! I can’t find my soccer ball and Dick and Beaver are supposed to be here soon!” Veronica peeked around the door just in time to see where the voice was coming from. Logan and his family have lived in Neptune on and off since he was born, but she had yet to meet him. He went to private school in LA during the year and his family was usually vacationing abroad during the summer. He looked like a normal kid to her, not like the son of two glamorous movie stars.

Just then he noticed her peeking and waved at her. “Mrs. Navarro, who’s that?” He asked with an all too confident smile. 

“That’s Veronica, Logan, but she’s rather shy. Why don’t you eat, and then I’ll help you find your ball.” Logan started to protest, but Veronica walked away before she could hear anymore. She ran off towards Weevil and handed him one of the water bottles she had snagged.

“Damn,  _ chica, _ what took you so long?” 

“Mrs. Echolls saw me and she wanted to talk to me.” Weevil shook his head and opened his mouth to talk but Veronica cut him off, “I know, stay out of sight, but it’s early still, I thought she’d still be sleeping.” After their water break, they decided to just sit for a while, eventually laying down in the grass. 

“Hey V… why’d you run away.” 

“I wanna get sent away… to San Diego or LA or whatever city is next.” 

“But why? I mean I know life here isn’t glamorous, but it ain’t too bad.” 

“Everything here reminds me of my dad.” Veronica didn’t know why she was telling him all of this. Maybe because she knew he already saw it in her journal, maybe because she just really needed to say it out loud. She started playing with her necklace like she always did whenever she talked about her dad. There was a long pause and she thought Weevil was going to drop it until she felt him turn his head to look at her. She turned her head to meet his stare. 

“Is that really a bad thing? I mean, he was a good dad wasn’t he? Don’t you wanna be reminded of him?” She was about to answer him when they heard loud laughing. They sat up and saw Logan and two other boys walking toward them. Veronica recognized Dick and Cassidy from school, but she didn’t really want to talk to them. She was about to tell Weevil they should go somewhere else when Logan shouted out to them. 

“Hey wanna play soccer with us? We need one more and Veronica can keep score.” Veronica didn’t like the idea of being left to keep score, so she got up and walked over to them. When they met up with each other, she grabbed the ball from him and started walking toward the grass.

“Why don’t you keep score and maybe you can learn something from watching me.” She said it without looking at him, so she didn’t see him smirk. 

“Okay, Bobcat, whatever you say.” Veronica rolled her eyes and decided that she and Dick should be one team, and Cassidy and Weevil should be the other. They played until it started to get dark, switching out who kept score. Eventually they just all started kicking the ball back and forth, showing off all the tricks they knew. Weevil started bouncing the ball on his head and attempted to pass it to Dick, who wasn’t paying attention and fell over. They all collapsed on the ground, laughing. Then they heard Mrs. Navarro call out to them.

“Veronica, Eli, go get cleaned up. Richard, Cassidy, your father is here for you.” They all groaned and got up. Logan ran in front of them and started walking backwards to talk to them. 

“So, when do you guys go back to school?” 

“Wednesday.”

“So, you’ll be here tomorrow too?”

“Supposed to be, yeah.” 

“Cool, we’ll go swimming in the pool.” Veronica looked down, suddenly feeling embarrassed. She had gone swimming with her first foster family during the summer. The other girls had teased her about her too-small one piece and when she’d gotten back to the house that day, she had thrown her suit away.

“I don’t have a suit…” she started, but Logan waved her off.

“You can just wear shorts and a T-shirt, it’s no biggie, it’s not like we’re going anywhere fancy, just the backyard.” And with that it was settled, they’d be swimming tomorrow. Veronica felt better, she loved swimming and had been avoiding it since that day. 

Dick and “Beaver”, as Logan and Dick called him, left and the rest of the kids sat at the kitchen island. Logan started pulling out snacks when they heard a booming voice. 

“Logan! I know your friends are gone, which means you have to start clea- Oh. Eli. Veronica.” They froze when they realized Mr. Echolls had seen them. They knew this wasn’t good. Veronica opened her mouth to apologize, but was cut off by Logan.

“Hey Dad, thanks for letting Mrs. Navarro bring them by today! V and Weevil are  _ soo  _ much fun, and they’re both really good at soccer. Tomorrow, we’re going to swim in the pool.” 

“That’s nice, Logan, but-”

“Veronica! Eli! I told you to get cleaned up! We need to get going soon!” Mrs. Navarro’s voice rang from the staircase and the kids hopped off their chairs and headed to the bathroom. Veronica turned around to wave goodbye to Logan and noticed a strange look on his face, like he was scared. When he caught her eye, he smiled at her and she gave him a small wave. She realized that Logan was taking the blame for them being in the kitchen so Mrs. Navarro wouldn’t get in trouble. She hopped his dad would take it easy on him. 

The next day, Veronica and Weevil had to stay in the pool house all day. Apparently, Logan and Lynn were both sick and needed absolute silence. Veronica suggested making cookies and taking them up to them, but that idea was shot down with a stern look. So, all day her and Weevil sat in the pool house and played poker. They kept getting into arguments because she thought he was cheating and he kept saying she played “boring white people” poker. Eventually, they just settled for War and Go Fish. 

When it was time to go, Veronica saw Logan when she was coming out of the bathroom. He was walking back up the stairs and didn’t notice her, but Veronica noticed he had a blue cast in over his left hand. 

“Logan! What happened to your hand?” He turned to look at her, but suddenly whipped back around and ran up the stairs. A second later she heard a door slam shut. Veronica stood there shocked because when he had turned around, she had noticed the nastiest purple bruise under his eye and up the side of his nose. It reminded Veronica of the bruises she would see on detainees she’d see at the station the day after they would get picked up for bar fights. Veronica was pretty certain Logan wasn’t getting into bar fights, but who would want to punch Logan in the face? Veronica pondered this during the drive home. She decided she wasn’t going anywhere until she uncovered the mystery of Logan Echolls. 


	4. Chapter 3

###  Chapter 3

“Mrs. Navarro, how’d Logan hurt his hand? Was he in a fight?” 

“I’m not sure,  _ Mija,  _ he probably hurt it roughhousing with the Casablancas boys - Now stop that!” Mrs. Navarro was showing Veronica how to make  _ mole poblano  _ and Veronica kept trying to sneak more chiles in it. Mrs. Navarro’s cooking was the best, but she didn’t make it spicy because Val and Leli couldn’t handle it. Veronica pouted her best pout and Mrs. Navarro sighed and let her put in another half of a chile. 

“But Dick and Beav left before us and he was perfectly fine-”

“¡Ya! Don’t keep asking questions about other people’s business, Vero. Just leave it alone.” 

“I just wanted to make sure he was okay,” Veronica grumbled and Mrs. Navarro let out a big sigh. She turned to the girl and gently picked her chin up. Holding her chin, she wrinkled her nose and Veronica rolled her eyes and laughed. Mrs. Navarro gently touched her cheek before turning back to the food. 

“Logan is a strong boy, he’ll be okay. If it makes you feel better, you can help me put together a little get well gift for him. Some cookies for his lunch maybe? Or Concha for breakfast?” 

“I think cookies, make all his friends at school jealous. The white ones we made for church last week.”

“ _ Polvorones” _ Mrs. Navarro gave her a pointed look. Veronica tried to say the word, but it felt awkward on her against her teeth. 

“¿ _ Polvorones?”  _

_ “¿Quien se va a casar?”  _ Weevil and Chardo came in from working on an old dirt bike their uncle found in his shed. They were covered in grease and started trying to mess with the food.

“No one’s getting married, Veronica saw Logan’s cast today and thought some cookies might cheer him up.” Mrs. Navarro hit Chardo’s hand as he went to pull the lid off the skillet. 

“So she’s making him wedding cookies? V, you know they’re just served at weddings, they don’t have a love potion or nothing in ‘em” 

“Shut up, Chardo, I didn’t know they were wedding cookies.” Despite herself, she could feel her neck and cheeks getting hot and she knew she was blushing. She wasn’t embarrassed, she was irritated. Chardo has been teasing her about Logan since they’d come back from his house on Monday. Yeah, she had talked about him, but so had Weevil. Chardo wasn’t making kissy faces at him whenever Logan came up though. 

“Ignore him, V, they’re not just served at weddings. People also have them at engagement parties, first dates, anniversaries, romantic getaways.” Weevil said as he came around the table to poke her in the ribs. 

“You guys are so annoying! Forget it, I’m not even making the cookies anymore!” Veronica threw her apron off and started up the stairs to her room. When she got there, she threw open the door and was about to groan loudly when she noticed Alma was sitting on her bed, her head between her knees and something in her hand. “Alma?” She walked over to see Alma holding a white and pink stick, a plus sign glaring brightly back at her. 

“ _ Dios Mio…”  _ Veronica turned to see Mrs. Navarro standing in the doorway. 

“ _ Abuela…”  _ Alma looked up, her eyes red and puffy and her cheeks moist. At the same time, Veronica and Mrs. Navarro moved to sit on either side of Alma. Mrs. Navarro pulled her head to her chest and Veronica grabbed her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. Alma looked up at her grandma with a pleading look in her eyes. “ _ Abuela _ , don’t make me get rid of it. I want my baby, please don’t say I can’t -” Alma let out a wet hiccup that quickly turned into a sob. Mrs. Navarro started murmuring to her in Spanish and stroking her hair. 

Veronica looked at the older girl, who hasn’t even been 17 for a whole month, and felt something swell in her chest. It was blazing and determined and Veronica decided right then and there that she was needed here. She was going to do whatever she could to help this bright, beautiful girl get the future she deserved. Veronica was about to tell her so when Mrs. Navarro spoke up. 

“We’re gonna figure this out,  _ mija _ , but first let’s eat dinner, okay?” Alma nodded and they got up and started heading toward the door. When they noticed Veronica wasn’t following, they turned around to look at her.    
“I’ll be right there, I just wanna find something first.” They nodded and when they left the room, Veronica went to her bookbag, looking for the pamphlets she had taken from the library before school let out for break. When she found them, she tucked them under her pillow and headed down to dinner. 

~

Veronica was sitting on the stairs, listening to the conversation Alma and Mrs. Navarro were having. Alma was telling Mrs. Navarro how she had enough credits to graduate, but she still had 3 semesters of essentials left before she qualified for graduation. 

“If I drop art, I could pick up creative writing which would count as my last English credit. Then I could do the take-home courses for Econ and Government.” 

“And you would get an actual diploma? Not a completion certificate?”

“ _ Si, Abuela, _ I took extra classes this summer so I would get the fall off for the trip to France, remember? And since I won’t be going anymore, I can use the money I saved for the baby instead.” 

“Okay,  _ mija _ … I just don't know what we’re going to do about your half of the grocery budget once the baby comes.” Veronica decided that this was her chance to speak up. She took a breath and came out of her hiding spot. 

“Um...  _ Abuela _ , I think I can help…” Veronica tried to make her voice steady and confident. Mrs. Navarro looked surprised to hear Veronica call her Abuela, but the shock was gone the second it came. 

“Okay, _ mija _ , what did you have in mind.” Alma slid over so Veronica could sit between them. Veronica’s hands were shaking when she pulled out the pamphlet. She was worried they would laugh at her or push her away instead of letting her help. 

“Umm… there’s this program, it’s school, but online. It’s not really homeschooling, because you’re still enrolled in a public school, but it’s on the computer. But you don’t have to do it all on the computers, you can go to the local high school for any class you want, even if the online school doesn’t offer it.” Mrs. Navarro looked at the pamphlet and frowned and Veronica could tell she couldn’t see where she was going with this. She took another deep breath and started again. “See, I was talking to my teacher before break and she thinks I’d be able to test out of 8th grade a semester early. So, I could take the semester to do the online classes and since they only require a minimum of 60 hours per class, I think I could finish one class every week. If I start them next week, I could have almost all my classes done by the time school starts in August. I would only have to go to PE at the school so I’d be able to find something better than just an after school gig.” She let out a sigh and looked back and forth between Alma and Mrs. Navarro. Mrs. Navarro looked worried and Alma was teary-eyed. 

“I don’t know, Veronica… 60 hours a week, that’s a lot. I’m not sure if that’s healthy that much time in front of the screen. Also, we don’t have a computer or Internet access…”

“I could go to the library! They have both and I already know all the ladies there.”

“Alone?? All-day every day?? Absolutely not, what if some strange man comes and takes you!!” 

“Well, I did have another idea… my dad set up a savings account for Christmas presents for me, a certain amount for every year until I turn 18. I haven’t used it yet and I think it would be enough to get a laptop secondhand. And for internet, I was thinking… ” 

“What are you thinking, Vero?”

“Well, I was thinking… maybe I could tag along with you to work. I could hook up to the internet in the pool house, no one would even know I was there. I wouldn’t bother anybody…” Veronica was looking at her feet. She knew this was the worst part of her idea, which is why she mentioned it last. 

“Veronica, I don’t know… you shouldn’t have to work so hard for me… I’m the one who got us into this, you shouldn’t have to suffer with me.” Alma was having trouble looking at Veronica. This girl, who three days ago couldn’t wait to jump on the next bus out of Neptune, was now saying she would sacrifice her 8th-grade graduation and last summer before high school to help her out. Veronica blew out a breath and thought maybe the best approach would be to come clean. 

“I was gonna do it anyways… ya know once I’d messed up enough to get you guys to give me the boot… I was gonna convince Cliff to let me do it before he got my next family assignment. I wanted to graduate as soon as possible so I could get a job and emancipate myself. But now, I wanna stay here. I wanna help you Alma, and you too _ Abuela _ . You guys have done so much for me and I want to help you…. please let me help you…” 

Mrs. Navarro looked at the clock and then back at the girls. She smiled and nodded her head. 

“I need to call Mrs. Echolls, let her know I have to take you to the school to get you tested out. Maybe talk to her about the whole internet situation…” She stood and walked to the phone. Alma wrapper her arms around Veronica and just held her for a while. When Mrs. Navarro came back she found Alma under Veronica’s arm, fast asleep. Veronica looked up and smiled at her. “I talked to Mrs. Echolls. She said it’s no problem if you’re gonna be tagging along with me for the next few months. She also said you don’t need to get a laptop. They have a family computer in the den that never gets used, so you’re free to use it.” Veronica felt relieved. It was only 8 pm and suddenly Veronica felt like baking. 

“Can you show me how to make those wedding cookies? Just because your grandsons know how to push my buttons, doesn’t mean Logan deserves a desert-less lunch.” Veronica gave Mrs. Navarro a beaming grin and they both chuckled. As they made their way to the kitchen, Veronica thought about how much easier those classes were going to be with the support of a full family behind her. 


End file.
